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墨書 Inktalez
Our car set off around eight or nine in the morning, and by the time we returned to Old Man Li's house in Rongcheng, it was already three or four in the afternoon. The bumpy ride had worn everyone out. Big Mouth Lee took a taxi back to Twisted Street. Zhengyang and I, without a place to stay, decided to temporarily settle at the old man's house, and Lu Jianguo joined us.
I glanced at Furball, who seemed to be sulking and refused to leave my backpack. I decided to leave him at the old man's house for now and tossed him a few pieces of beef. Exhausted, I collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.
By seven or eight in the evening, it was completely dark when I was jolted awake by a knock on the door. Zhengyang's voice came from outside, calm as ever, "Zi, don't forget about our plans!" Zhengyang was around thirty years old and also called me "Zi." I felt a bit resentful but reminded myself that I would need this guy later, so I answered with a scowl.
"Oh! I'm getting up now!" I replied nonchalantly. After washing up and getting dressed, it took me about ten minutes. Zhengyang was clearly growing impatient, almost ready to break down the door, but he kept his language clean without a single curse. "Hurry up! If we miss the time, we'll have to wait another year!" Hearing this made me grab a backpack and rush out of the room. Deep down, I knew my own capabilities; we were about to head into danger, and I was quite scared, so I wanted to delay as much as possible.
"Can you drive?" Zhengyang asked me. I nodded, "Yes!" "Then drive Old Man Li's van; we're in a hurry!" I responded with an "Okay," climbed into the driver's seat while Zhengyang settled into the passenger seat. After greeting the old man, we headed out. "To Golden Rooster Mountain!" My heart skipped a beat as a chill crept up from my feet.
Golden Rooster Mountain is part of the northern ridge of Rongcheng's mountain range. The local records state: "During Qin Shi Huang's reign, sorcerers claimed that this mountain bore the auspicious sign of a golden rooster! Hence it was named Golden Rooster Mountain." The entire mountain resembles a rooster, with dense forests and many ancient relics. Numerous tombs have been excavated here—dating back to the Han Dynasty and even earlier periods. Logically speaking, with such an area yielding so many tombs, there shouldn't be any ancient graves left. However, recently there have been rumors of hauntings here, making it a rarely visited place.
As I thought about this, I couldn't help but wonder if Zhengyang had brought me here just to enjoy the scenery.
Although Golden Rooster Mountain is located within the city limits and has been developed into a park, it has fallen into disrepair over recent years with few visitors. I drove straight into the park without anyone stopping us and parked behind a peach orchard. Zhengyang suggested we pick some peach branches; we ended up gathering about eighty or ninety.
Following Zhengyang, we arrived at a pond in Golden Rooster Mountain. The pond was surrounded by trees; on the western side lay a large stone partially obscured by weeds where a strange creature rested. At that moment, it was completely dark; not a single visitor could be seen. Zhengyang climbed onto a rock formation behind the pond and pulled out a compass as if he were examining the feng shui Dragon Vein. He shook his head repeatedly, saying, "There’s water beneath Golden Rooster Mountain; at its source should be densely packed mountains resembling interlocking dog teeth with cranes gathering around them—twisting and turning for dozens of miles without wanting to leave is considered very auspicious. Unfortunately, while there are mountains here, they don’t form those interlocking shapes. To revitalize this place, we must build a 'Rainbow Bridge' connecting the peaks to create an auspicious site."
After observing for a while longer with his brow furrowed in confusion, he remarked, "This place is part of a collapse flood vein; finding water among shared mountains is difficult. There are traces left on the stone indicating officials may have been involved here. But judging by the energy of this land, it feels ominous!"
I wasn't well-versed in these matters and didn't fully understand his words at that moment. However, I vaguely recalled something from Mausoleum Secrets regarding how collapse flood veins can generate malevolent energy—four words came to mind: "Great Rebellion." So I shared this with Zhengyang, who suddenly seemed enlightened and began explaining.
"Although collapse flood veins are auspicious sites," he said, "if someone buried in such tombs was executed or had committed heinous crimes, what should be an auspicious site turns into an ominous one—graveyards would face significant issues." Yet Zhengyang added that this tomb radiated ominous energy as if something were suppressing it.
Curious, I asked Zhengyang, "Aren't you familiar with this tomb? How could you dare say there's something useful for me inside?" Zhengyang looked somewhat embarrassed as he replied, "The law does not pass on to outsiders; although I'm aware of this tomb's general situation, certain variables have exceeded my expectations!"
Zhengyang pulled out some Yellow Flags from his bag—triangular yellow paper cutouts attached to bamboo sticks. He sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed in deep thought while chanting incantations. Suddenly, the Yellow Flags flew from his hands and stuck themselves into the ground in a square formation as if rooted there.
Zhengyang looked at me disdainfully and said, "The descendant of Old Man Xia doesn’t understand these things?"
"Are you Tomb Raider or The Tomb Raider?" Having read several books on tomb raiding before, I knew about various schools of thought on this topic and asked Zhengyang just to tease him; after all, it was only meant to confuse outsiders.
Zhengyang grew increasingly disdainful. "Our Maoshan Dao would never use the methods of a mere earth worker! The Ancestors Tomb is all based on feng shui and Leyline. We Maoshan Dao don't even need to rely on geomancy; sensing the Eerie Energy is enough!"
"Is that Yellow Flag marking a tomb chamber?"
"Indeed!"
In ancient Chinese, "然" (Ran) can mean "yes," but it can also imply uncertainty, similar to how we use "oh," "uh-huh," or "okay" in modern conversation. Such a response is quite pretentious!
"Zhengyang, did you bring your tools?" I was referring to the Luoyang Shovel, Entrenching Shovel, and mining lamps—professional tools for tomb raiding. Zhengyang immediately saw through my thoughts and scoffed, "Are you planning to dig yourself?"
"Of course! How else do we get into the tomb chamber?"
"Sigh! Old Man Xia must be restless in his grave! You want to dig this out yourself?"
"You really are something. How can we enter the tomb chamber without digging? Are we supposed to use some kind of earth-escaping technique?"
"Of course, we go in from the top of the tomb!"
"If we're going in from the top, we still need to use the Luoyang Shovel to locate the chamber's boundaries and then use the Entrenching Shovel to excavate the soil, right?"
Normally, before a tomb raid, one should first take out the Luoyang Shovel for probing. Based on the soil brought up, one could estimate the general area of the tomb chamber and determine its burial depth by how deep they probe. A skilled Grave Robber can accurately assess the situation of the Tomb based on the soil or by feeling with the Luoyang Shovel. After that, they would outline the area that needs to be excavated.
"Sigh! Goodness! You go check inside that square area and see if there's anything wrong!"
I walked into the square marked by the Yellow Flag, pushed aside some grass, and looked closely. Sure enough, I found something significant. In the center of that square was a white stone carved with an Auspicious Beast. It lay atop a stone pedestal, its limbs drooping down just enough to cover four holes in the pedestal. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that only a small part of the stone was exposed above ground; most of it was buried. I estimated that this white stone weighed around three or four hundred pounds—this must be the top of the tomb.
"This stone is too heavy; there's no way we can pull it up together!"
"Sigh! Have you been studying too much? Can't you use a vehicle to pull it?"
The road from Meilin to the pond was suitable for driving a vehicle up. Suddenly enlightened, I hurriedly drove up, took out a rope from the back seat, tied it around the Auspicious Beast, started the vehicle, pressed down on the accelerator, and pulled hard. With a loud bang, the stone was lifted. A dark hole appeared in the ground, and a wave of Eerie Energy shot up into the sky, causing the surrounding air to chill significantly.
"Do you know what significance this stone holds? Forget it; I can tell you since you clearly don't understand!" Seeing my bewildered expression, Zhengyang began explaining about this white stone and its relation to the Tomb.
The dome of this tomb belongs to the "Four-Corner Vaulted Style," which emerged during the late Eastern Han and early Three Kingdoms period, primarily distributed in the Yangtze River Middle and Lower Reaches region. Its appearance strengthened the previously weak corners of the burial chamber, increasing the span and height of the tomb, transforming it from a mere grave into a place that could be repeatedly opened during an era when joint burials were prevalent. However, this practice suddenly disappeared after the Eastern Jin period. The white stone in the center, known in ancient times as "Sealstone," is referred to in modern archaeology as "Capping Stone."
During the Eastern Han period, tombs typically had a wooden coffin encased in a wooden outer shell; high-ranking officials used pine wood, while nobles used yellow cypress wood. The term "yellow cypress" comes from the fact that the wood used for the outer shell was stripped of its bark, giving it a light yellow color. The Four-Corner Vaulted Style tomb does not require an outer shell; instead, it uses blue bricks for construction. Historically, this dome-style tomb was prevalent only in the Eastern Wu region during the Three Kingdoms period.
"So, this tomb is from the Eastern Wu of the Three Kingdoms?"
"Yes!" Zhengyang replied, maintaining a calm demeanor without a hint of emotion.
I was about to climb down into the burial chamber when Zhengyang quickly grabbed me. He took out a Yellow Talisman and recited an incantation; soon, the Yellow Talisman burst into flames. He then tossed it into the burial chamber, and a bright flash of fire shot out before extinguishing after a moment.
Due to long-term sealing, the burial chamber lacked oxygen. If someone were to enter recklessly, they could suffer from suffocation or poisoning. The soil worker lighting candles inside the chamber operates on principles similar to those of Mao Shan Technique's Yellow Talisman—using fire to consume oxygen to determine whether there is enough oxygen inside.
"Alright!" Zhengyang lowered a rope from the dome, and we slid down into the main burial chamber. I turned on my miner's lamp and scanned around; water had accumulated in the chamber, reaching up to my knees and feeling icy cold!
I shone my lamp around and saw that the dome was entirely constructed of blue bricks. The blue bricks slanted upward from the midsection of the walls, forming an inverted V-shaped surface that converged at the top into a square pyramid shape. The opening at the center was where we had pulled away the "Sealstone." The base walls were also made entirely of blue bricks.
As I walked a few steps toward the center from the wall base of the chamber, I felt as if something had tripped me! I pulled with all my might but found that something was gripping my foot tightly. When I shone my light into the water, I wished I hadn't looked—what I saw sent chills down my spine and made me break out in a cold sweat.
There it was—a dark hand gripping my ankle…
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